Embassy and SwissRe Developing Government Schools in Bangalore

Bangalore, July 3, 2018: Embassy Group, India’s leading real estate developer has partnered with Swiss Re Foundation, the philanthropic arm of SwissRe, with the goal to develop and nurture Government schools in and around Bangalore.

This partnership has seen Embassy Group working with Swiss Re Foundation and the Bangalore North Round Table in the construction of the Government Girls Higher Primary School, Devanahalli. The first phase of construction was sponsored by SwissRe in 2016. Last year in collaboration with Kitab Korner, Swiss Re setup the library and a reading programme at the school. With the planned construction complete, both partners will work together to provide several holistic and innovative educational programmes which will positively impact around 260 students enrolled at this school.

Embassy Group has provided project management and infrastructural expertise to oversee the design and development activities end to end. The total cost of this project is close to 1.5 crores. The project was completed in seven months and includes classrooms, staff rooms, a library, science labs, a multipurpose hall, a kitchen and a toilet block. The major portion of the funding for the project has been taken care of by Swiss Re with Bangalore North Round Table also providing support on the ground working closely with local authorities to get the project started.

Under the Embassy Group’s Corporate Social Responsibility Programme, the Company has invested time, efforts and funds to make a difference to the quality of education to the underprivileged children in the city. Some of the major contributions towards restoration and improvement of infrastructure, including education facilities, are the following completed projects:

The Stonehill Government Higher Primary School serves the needs of children across nine villages around the Devanahalli region.

The Government School at Challaghatta caters to the children of the areas and those of migrant labourers.

The Government Kannada Model Higher Primary School, Cox Town

The Government PU College, Yelahanka

Dhanush, a young student from the Challaghatta Government School expressed his delight saying, “I used to hate coming to school because it wasn’t clean – there used to be a garbage dump behind the school and it brought a lot of mosquitoes. We also hated the stench it caused, which made it extremely difficult for us to study. Now, it’s finally clean and coming to school is enjoyable again.”

Talking about the collaboration with Swiss Re, Jitu Virwani, Chairman and Managing Director, Embassy Group said, “We strongly believe that the future of India depends upon the quality of education imparted to our children. As such, we at Embassy Group, have committed ourselves to build a sustainable ecosystem and actively contribute to the social and economic development of the communities where we operate. We are glad to partner with SwissRe Foundation and Bangalore North Round Table Trust in this project with the similar endeavour of working towards the betterment of the society. We look forward to providing all the support to take this relationship further.”

Mike Holland, CEO, Embassy Office Parks, said, “This partnership is part of Embassy Group’s Corporate Connect Programme which initiates, facilitates and supports community outreach programmes by many of the 190 corporate occupiers of Embassy office parks in Bangalore. Corporate Occupiers welcome the opportunity to partner and support the economically weaker sections of the society especially underserved government schools and school children. Apart from collaborating on the CSR mandate of the Corporates, this initiative also provides opportunities for employee engagement which are enthusiastically received by the employees. These projects are a way of giving back and connecting to the communities where we operate.”

Embassy Group has committed itself to equip students with skills for self development and future employability by providing better facilities, infrastructure, and support to government schools across Bangalore. As part of this initiative, Embassy has adopted and is currently supporting 17 schools and a children’s home, benefitting over 7000 children. It endeavours to empower each of its schools with essential necessities including safe infrastructure, clean facilities, basic amenities including uniforms, notebooks, stationary and backpacks, access to quality educational programmes, additional staff, and opportunities to engage in interactive events that help nurture these young minds.

Sharing views on CSR initiatives, Amit Kalra, Head Global Services Bangalore and Managing Director, Swiss Re Global Business Solutions said, “We at Swiss Re Global Business Solutions Centre, Bangalore, are driven by the CSR vision of a long-term and meaningful engagement to positively impact society. While we were consolidating our CSR efforts towards empowerment through holistic education, we wanted to join hands with the right organisations who can bring their strengths to fulfill our aspiration. In Embassy, we not only found a world-class real estate expert that could help expand the Government Girls’ Higher Primary School, Devanahalli, in record time, but also an extremely committed partner that is passionate about activating its strong network to bring together multiple individual corporate CSR efforts, and thereby broaden the positive impact of societal change. We are now looking forward to an even stronger association with Embassy to make a meaningful contribution to the society.”

Speaking on this partnership, Mithun Aswath, Chairman of Bangalore North Round Table Trust said, “For Bangalore North Round Table Trust, this project, in association with Swiss Re and the Embassy Group, is under the National Mandate of Round Table India: Freedom Through Education (FTE). FTE is basically a spectrum of activity where Round Table India has created school infrastructure for the needy across the country under the premise that education is truly what creates social progress. Bangalore North Round Table Trust has actively pursued this mandate over the years and completed many school projects.”